Amsterdam

It's been a week since I came back from my trip to Amsterdam, Bruges and London and I thought this a good time as any to get back into writing about things, because I regret not doing this for Austria/Vienna/Budapest, and last year's epic Rome/Florence trip. You just forget details the more time passes and if not for photos all the fun little memories of a trip dissipates.

I'd never been to Amsterdam before, I didn't know what to expect. It was also the gang's first time trying out airbnb. Our cab pulled us up to the trendy neighborhood of De Pjip, and met our air bnb host, a tall lanky Dutch dude who nonchalantly ignored our sputtering reaction to the crazy, steep stairway that greeted us at the door.

Kudos to Brian for his suitcase workout, lugging all our crazy bags up and down these chutes and ladders.

I could write a whole post just on these stairs, none of us managed to take a photo that perfectly encapsulated how dangerous and outrageous these stairs were, but they became the bane of our existence our entire stay in the city because getting up and down from the bedrooms to the living room downstairs was akin to going through a booby trap in your own home. We made the most of it of course, pretending to eat shit daily (sometimes succeeding on accident), joking about how we ought to just throw ourselves down the stairs to save time...a three story ladder would have been more honest.

Really enjoyed making dinner and chilling when we felt too lazy to go out to eat.

Crazy stairs aside, it was awesome to share a whole house with friends. It was a nonstop hang out fest and it really did feel like we'd neatly inserted ourselves into Amsterdam and was going about business like locals do. At one point after a trip to the grocery store, we ran into some other airbnb tenants in the stairway and they expressed surprise at seeing occupants on the flat above them, to which Brian haughtily retorted "Would we go grocery shopping here if we didn't live here?"

De Pjip was a good location to stay in. Near lots of restaurants, cafes, and bars. Our place overlooked a cute little wine bar called Glou Glou.

Notice the moving hooks up top. Certainly don't envy the Dutch on moving day.

Amsterdam reminded me a little bit of Copenhagen. The architecture was similar...not identical, but had the same tall vertical vibe. The houses in Jordaan were beautiful, so many different style arches on the roofs, a trademark of the canal homes. The overall effect was of gingerbread homes, because of the flatness of each fascade. No balconies, no protruding fronts, just a ton of windows and these gigantic moving hooks on the very tops of each.

My favorite neighborhood was undeniably the Jordaan. Such a quiet, elegant neighborhood along the canals.

Amsterdam seemed almost MORE of a bicycle city than Stockholm or Copenhagen is (which is saying a lot). The vibe of the bicyclists were way more no nonsense and aggro compared to the fashionable set we'd see gliding through cobbled shopping streets in Stockholm, wearing long flowy dresses, pink ACNE bags in tow. The entire city had an impressive and incorporated network of bike lanes next to the roads/sidealks...bicycles really were treated as no different from a vespa or a four wheeled vehicle. (I say it that way because some cars were somewhat questionable due to it's tiny size and tippability factor.)

We went to the Anne Frank House. It still hasn't hit me how crazy it is that we were inside the actual house that she and her family lived in. It was really tiny. We went up the actual stairs hidden behind the bookshelf.

Green eyed Van Gogh.

Also on the agenda was the Rjiksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. As excited as I was to see Vermeer and Rembrandt, I was really blown away by the Van Gogh Museum, which I wasn't expecting. It just goes to show you that you can learn about artists, or architecture in art history via books but nothing compares to actually seeing said objects in the flesh. His use of complementary colors, thick brushstrokes, and ability to create some of the most beautiful, and emotional pieces...I left the museum, a renewed fan of his work.

The next few days, we went shopping in the charming 9 Straatjes in Jordaan, walked through street markets, sampled bitterballens (deep fried beef croquettes), ate endless caramel stroopwafels, and tried the famous apple pie at Winkel 43.

We ate so many stroopwafels that we can't anymore. Killed it.

A soft and pillowy ball of dream burrata.

Hi buddies.

We hit up a weed cafe one afternoon. When in Rome, after all. There was a No Opium Smoking sign inside which we thought was strange, because... who's smoking opium?? 3 euros bought us a joint, and we settled outside with our cappucinos and a few edible stroopwafels. What was supposed to be a short little break in the middle of the afternoon, turned into one intense session of being #toohigh to do much of anything. After feebly trying to navigate a food hall and nearly getting hit by a car, we decided it would be wise to get ourselves home and ride out the wave.

The infamous edible stroopwafel that did us all in.

Things are weiiiird.

It was a very musical high. Katee and I lounged on the couch and listened to some intense sounds through the jambox. After some hours we came out of our stupor and had a nice night in, pigging out on all the cheese and raspberry juice we'd hoarded all week.

I know I mentioned this in my Sweden post years ago but Dutch people are super fucking tall. They're even taller than Swedish and Danish people. I lost count of how many over 6 ft tall women I saw in Amsterdam. They were everywhere, super cool and unapologetic. Brian and I felt dimunitive for the first time in our lives and it felt weird. "Brian! Stop being so SHORT!". But these are some of the little things I love about traveling; just seeing and experience things completely outside your norm, and thinking about how you feel about the differences or similarities.

Bondage / Homo / SM / And Teen Sex ?!

We checked out the Red Light District of course. It was more touristy than I thought. It was weird, women standing in the doorways of their little glass box rooms...they were so available and right at street level. I noticed that the majority of people there skulked around, stealing glances almost guiltily, even though everything was out in the open.

The highlight of our trip was the night time canal ride we did our last night in Amsterdam. It was an hour and a half of drinking wine and our usual shenanigans, while seeing some really beautifully lit up canal homes and nightlife.

I'd go back to Amsterdam again. It was chill, everyone was nice and tall... I loved it.

Souvenir list:
Tiny blue painted Delft porcelain clogs
Delft printed candles
Stroopwafels
Porcelain canal home tealights (for X-mas)
Gold bicycle bell
Van Gogh postcards
Sour fizzy gummies

Wish list:
Pure raspberry pressed juice
Crazy Delft vase with about 50 tiny porcelain clogs and animals all over it
Tulip bulbs to plant at home
A few edible stroops, just because.
A cat